2013 in Review

The past year has been a busy one for our family so I thought I'd do a little summary just for fun!

At the beginning of the year I started a home business and ended up closing it at the end of the year. We traveled to Arizona for a vacation in March which was bittersweet because we found out my dad has heart problems while we were there. We celebrated our youngest sweet girl's 1st birthday in January and our oldest beauty's 5th birthday in July. We started our juicing/ cleani eating journey in May and have kept it up well and lost about 75lbs between Matt and I. Our family took a camping trip in August and survived tent camping even with a one year old! We watched our oldest daughter start kindergarten in September which made mommy cry and daddy proud. I traveled to see my sister in Victoria, B.C. in October which was a wonderful getaway for me. My dad was diagnosed with bladder cancer, had surgery and is now cancer free (yipee!)...I believe it brought our family closer together. We rang in the New Year as a family and had a super cool kid- friendly party. And last but most definitely not least- Matt and I encountered many up's and down's in our relationship as most everyone has and came through it even stronger than before.

All in all we had a wonderful year. There are many more positives than negatives and here are some pictures of all of these awesome adventures. I look forward to a terrific 2014 filled with more amazing moments!

Happy New Year everyone!

Happy 2013!

Wow, I can't believe it's 2013 already, Every time I say the year, it makes me feel old! I remember when I was small and thought that by 2013 we would live on the moon and have flying cars!

We have a New Year's Eve tradition at our house and we followed it again this year. We get a bunch of appetizers, champagne and Christmas crackers and have dinner together followed by a movie. This year we loaded up on Asian appetizers and a giant shrimp ring and got some "kid champagne" (sparkling apple juice) because of Ceili and the fact that I am breastfeeding and didn't want to have alcohol. We had a delicious and fun night!

Every year at New Year's I reflect on the past year. What a year we had! We started the year off with a new baby then Matt went out of town the next week with work and I enjoyed a visit from my sister from B.C. I eased into having two kids much better than I had imagined. I have to admit, it is a bit more difficult now that Abbey's on the move, but it isn't as insane as I had thought it would be. I have learned alot about myself while dealing with these two little versions of myself! I celebrated my 30th birthday and my big girl turned 4 years old! We also saw her start school in 2012, meet new friends and grow and change so much. We enjoyed a family vacation to Cuba in June and survived the crazy flight home. We also got our new pup Boots this past year. So much has happened! There have been ups and downs, but we survived another year and when I look back I see much more good than bad.

Here are a couple of photos of our wonderful New Year's as a family.

Wishing you and your families a very Happy New Year and wonderful things in 2013!

Ceili and her "kid champagne"

Abbey didn't like her New Year's hat so much!

Christmas Catch-up

I apologize for the large gap in posts. Christmas at our house was very busy and required a lot of preparation this year. I made Christmas dinner for 13 family members and cooked my first turkey. It was a massive 19 pounder and was a little scary, but I managed just fine! Knowing that 13 people's hungry tummies are depending on you making a delicious dinner puts some pressure on a person!

Christmas morning was wonderful for us. We invited my parents for present opening and breakfast. It was so nice to have them there with us and watching the looks on the kids faces as they opened their gifts. We opened stockings, ate breakfast (a yummy cake I found on Pinterest) and then went back to opening more gifts! I got almost everything I asked for- a griddle for making pancakes, a new pedometer, There were alot of gifts this year, but my favorite gift was having all of my family together. It was very cold outside, but our house was warm and cozy and full of love!

Here are a few photos from Christmas at the Thompson household.

So Much to Give Thanks For!

I can't believe it's Thanksgiving again, it seems like the past year has gone by in a blur. A good blur, but a blur nonetheless! Every Thanksgiving I try to think about all of the things that I am thankful for and every year I have a little more to be thankful for!

I am most thankful for my wonderful husband who puts up with me day in and day out! lol. Well, I guess we actually put up with eachother because we all have our bad days and we love eachother whether it's a bad or a good day! He's always there to comfort me- like this week when I got in my first fender bender with our van and dented the bumper. I called him and he answered even though he was in meetings across the country and he told me he was more worried about us girls than the damage to the van and that everything would be alright.

I am thankful that we have a nice house and food in our fridge because I know there are alot of people in this world without those things. Most people who do have them take them for granted and we really shouldn't.

Two other reasons to be thankful are our two beautiful, smart little girls. They make my days (and nights!) interesting. They have changed how I see the world. I appreciate everything about life so much more since they came into our lives. My appreciation for the miracle of human life is also tremendous now. My body grew these beautiful babies and fought to keep little Abbey safe. At this time last year I was unsure of whether or not we would be meeting our sweet baby in January because of all of my pregnancy issues. I spent almost every day of that pregnancy so scared and I am so happy she is here and healthy!

I am also thankful for a trouble- making dog who makes me crazy some days....well, to be honest most days but I love him all the same! He has made our family complete.

I can't forget all of the rest of my family and friends because without them I would never have mommy- dates, babysitters when I need a break, advice and hugs when I need them the most! As much as we fight with our parents when we're teenagers and think they don't know what they're talking about, I really do appreciate them and all of the support they give me now. I realize they were right all along and I'm sure our girls will shake their heads at us one day and say "you don't understand!".

So this Thanksgiving remember to be thankful for all that you have, not just the things but the people too!